


Fear

by tanoshii_koushi



Category: Original Work
Genre: Curiosity, Dialogue-Only, Experimental Style, Fear, Horror, POV Second Person, Psychological Horror, Short, Short One Shot, Unsettling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-28 14:40:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19814404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tanoshii_koushi/pseuds/tanoshii_koushi





	Fear

Some say horror and fear are complicated concepts that can only be developed in a full novel. Rather, fear is just another emotion, and any good writer can exploit it. In fact, you barely need a narrative to scare. I can just talk to you and I can scare you in under 500 words. I'll even let you count the words I've used so far. On board? Great, let's get started.  
Everyone always springs at jumpscares and gory images; anything to catch you off-guard and prey on your survival instincts. However, I've always found those dull and boring, preferring the deep dread that builds up inside. Watching someone disappear out of your vision as they descend into the basement for the thousandth time, yet finding yourself wondering if this will be the time that the monster in the basement comes out. That nagging thought in the back of your mind about what might be under the bed, all while you drift to sleep and the eyes of the paintings in the room watch you eagerly, waiting until just the right moment to come to life, obscured from your vision. The creaking from the bathroom late at night, the gurgling from the pipes, the light that always seems to flicker as soon as you look away. It's never the faces of the ghosts or the goblins that scare you, nor the vampires, nor the werewolves. The only faces that ever scare are the ones you see hiding in the dark, the walls, and the dreams. The ones that seem just familiar enough to arouse your mind, but just vague enough to leave you with an eager curiosity. A curiosity which, more often than not, can side track your mind and sneak itself into your dreams, forever toying with you. The wonderful thing is, I know something even more terrifying than all of those. I know something which can keep you up at night, far later than a silly ghost story could. I think that deep down, what we're all most afraid of is that our curiosity is misplaced. That all of the horrors we've recorded for generations really don't exist at all. The simple fear that all these things we allow our brain to linger over - all those faces we see peering out from the darkness - really aren't anything at all. That there isn't anything we can be morbidly curious about, peering out from beneath the covers to see the eyes on our paintings staring right back at us. Turning the lights on in the basement even though we know there isn't anything down there. Really, what we're all most afraid of is that there's nothing there at all. That we're alone. So turn the lights back off and forget to check under the bed. You're most afraid that there isn't anything out there at all.


End file.
